Callagrace's Blog

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Tag: massachusetts

Spring may have arrived!

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Well the sun is out, the birds are awake and the flowers are starting to appear from the thawing ground. Today was such a wonderful day and it feels like it is the right time to take a moment to regroup on the comings and goings of my artwork.

The past few months have been really interesting. I have not been doing a constant flow of work partially due to trying to really dedicate myself to my physical health but luckily I had a few projects which really just helped me stay focused. It all began with a few animal images which literally came from me looking at images of strange creatures. At some point I decided to paint my friends chocolate lab, Buddy, which ended up being a really good move on my part. A fellow co-worker had started to inquire about dog portraits which I had not done by request before but had done because I am so crazy obsessed with my dogs. I was able to show some of the previous images I had created and he was sold.

I painted two pug portraits which was an interesting experience. I have not done a huge quantity of commision works to date and in the past when asked to do images it was always in my more free, abstract style rather than a very accurate depiction of a picture of a dog. Needless to say that while painting Mya the white pug, I painted it 3 times because my super OCD kicked right into gear. When it came to the black pug I was able to capture the personality of this guy within one go. I was happy to learn that everyone was pleased with the outcome and it had really given me a great place to start moving forward with commission work like those.

After those pieces I was approached by a friend to help design the image to be used on a friends baby shower. Thrilled at the idea of designing this image I stepped right up to the plate. Best thing about it was the amazing theme, woodland creature tea party! WHAT I love it! I started working on images and for whatever reason it inspired me to no end! There was a collection of images but just to name a few,there was The Rabbits Tea Party, The Whole Gang and The Curious Mouse . The Whole Gang ended up being the final image but all were successfully completed and will probably be the beginning of a series I am already mentally working on.

Other than that things have been going well, a few abstract images along the way but not nearly as many as I would like. I began knitting a couple months back and was able to complete both a neck warmer which looks wonderful and really earthy as well as a baby blanket for the friend who’s invitation I helped design. I hope the sunny weather and warmer tempatures also bring along an extra burst of creativity as it does every year, with which I hope to take advantage of and just create, create, create!

As always, thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you next time!

Look who’s been painting again…

It has been way too long since I posted on this page, which is frustrating since I was doing so good for a while but that’s life right! Anyway, I have included images from a few of my most recent works which can be fully viewed on my daily blog 365Days1Year.com Please let me know your thoughts as I’d love some feedback. I really have had a recent spur of creativity again which I can’t really pinpoint to one individual reason yet, but something obviously has got me going again. Whatever is I hope it stays. The images below are really just pulling from past imagery but I would like to push it more and think that in order to do that I will need to start drawing/sketching from life. Not a bowl of fruit really but something real. We draw from what we know and I don’t want that library in my head to get stale! Anyway Enjoy and see you next time.

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A Rather Exciting Summer….

Well, summer is at an end and I must say that with that said I am very pleased with what I accomplished thus far. A little of this and a little of that really. I had started another blog back in April 365days1year.com and it really worked. I have managed to produce 165 completed images to date, that have been published and posted on the blog. As one might expect I had to adjust the blogs goals as time went on, primarily the whole “I’m going to post every day,” who did I think I was? I mean it’s not like I work a full-time job and a part-time job and have a husband and two dogs and a rather embarrassing social life… Oh wait nope I do have all those things…. SOOOO I had to adjust the requirement to post every day to about once a week, loosely. It’s not that I am not making or creating something each day, but afterwards I am not always up to posting, it takes a different side of me. Below are some images of works created along the way.


On another note, I joined the Hull Artists Studio Connection, which has been another wonderful endeavour, proving to be worth the little effort it took on my end to become a member. It is great to talk with fellow artists who are attempting to make a profit on their works as well. In addition it is also nice to have a few venues for showing handed to you with little effort. I participated in two Open Studio Tours, one in July and one in August, both allowing me to meet some wonderful people along the way. In addition I was able to participate in Endless Summer this past weekend and that was a lot of fun. Not exactly the art touring kind of mentality but a great networking event and networking is what it is all about.  Below are some of the images of my set ups from both events.

So after all of that, with a new season approaching it is time for change yet again. My husband and I are moving from Hull to Canton and although it is close in retrospect it will be quite different. With every change I like to promote new goals within myself the next being online purchasing. Once upon a time I created an ETSY account, which since then has grown spider webs, if it were possible. Within the next month or so I hope to have successfully set up my ETSY shop for purchases. I will inform you as soon as I pull it together… believe it or not my biggest concern is shipping, who knew!
On another note, I did start a new project which I am super excited about but not really ready to fully disclose so until then here are images of projects in the works….

Open Studios Tour

Hull Artists Open Studios are happening this weekend Saturday and Sunday and

I am happy to announce that I will be showing at my studio on Sunday.

Please follow the link below for details and a map for the studio tour!

www.hullartists.com

New Additions!

Please Check out the painting and Drawing Tabs of my page, I have added some pieces that have been completed over the past 3 months, all of which will be for sale at Open Studios. Opens Studios is the weekend of July 7th and I will be opening up my studio on July 8th to the public. Please feel free to stop by and get a better look at the work in person. For more details please see the following link. Hull Open Studio Tour Thanks for reading!

Well, Today felt like a good day to write!

Hello there,

I know it has been quite some time since my last post but I wanted to announce that I have started a blog that went live on April 1st, The blog is called 365days1year. It is a blog about my everyday challenge of keeping myself in the right mental state to allow myself to draw regularly. With every day I require myself to create something, which can range from a drawing in the sand to a finished watercolor. Either way by midnight of that day there must be a post for everyone to see and read. So far, so good. I am onto day twenty-seven and going strong still. It has been a wonderful challenge for myself, since I now feel that I have an obligation to others to keep the posts coming. Bellow I have included a few images from what I have created thus far. Please take a look and spread the word!

http://www.365Days1Year.com

The end of a thought…

Today was one of those days that things just felt right. I had decided some time ago to say goodbye to a project that began a few months back but was debating the right way to do so. In the past all I would do with old projects is crush and destroy and eventually just toss it into the bin. This time I decided to document it with the help of my friend Leah Mooney and Leo Bonarigo. Myself and Leah photographed while Leo filmed the whole experience. Now granted we filmed this morning so nothing will be done for a while but until then enjoy the photographs bellow. These are a series of shots taken throughout the experience and although they may not appear super exciting it was somewhat refreshing to finish the project  this way. This truly felt like the end of a thought, an idea of a toxic growth that pushed away by nature or maybe consumed by it. Either way it was a great experience. Please take a look… and enjoy. I’ll post the video once its completed.

 

Hyde Park Open Studios… Success

Well, I guess I wouldn’t say it was a “success” I didn’t really sell much except for the cards I had produced. Granted even that was nice though, to see that people do actually like what it is that I make. The most entertaining comments were always from people who obviously could understand the cards and then were completely baffled by the actual prints on the wall. Anyway, I have great feedback and luckily some great conversations with visitors. The event also allowed me to finally get to meet a lot of the members from EES which was wonderful. Being the newbie on the block has been a bit interesting and it is nice to finally get to chat with people. Anyway below are a series of images I took of the Open studios. Maybe next year you can stop by. Enjoy!

There it is my own personal wall… I was pleased.

A series of artists work including my own!

The work of fellow artist Iris Kumar… LOVE IT! check her out at

http://irismorehousekumar.wordpress.com

People were examining the portfolios EES has created over the years!

There were a few demos taking place in the shop… they were great!

The Newest Projects

This summer has been as most of my summers are a sad attempt at pursuing my art and a much better attempt at making the money I didn’t make during the year. On the up side, having the artist residence has kept me somewhat on track by forcing me to dedicate my day off to the studio. My studio time has really been a constant attempt at perfecting some test plates but I’m getting there. So, for my next personal project I have created a set of 8 copper plates which are all identical in size, small but convenient, 4″ x 4″. I leave for New Hampshire tomorrow and I’m hoping to create 8 images that represent my time there. As most people know I’m not a big fan of real life, I much more prefer the one in my head thus these images will most likely be far from your typical scenes of New Hampshire. In the end I hope to produce a book/Zine based on these images and my own words to coincide. I am pretty excited to have something set up for myself but I also currently have two Folios that I am working on. One for the folios is for the site Inkteraction and is a small image with an edition of 15. The other is a folio for AS220 in Rhode Island and is an edition size of 40. I think I might be doing a woodblock for this one! Wish me Luck I’ll keep you updated with any completed images.

Second attempt at a color print…

I decided I wanted to have another go at a multiple plate print and I’m happy I did because I’ve learned a few good things. First and foremost if I ever attempt to have as many plates as I did during this project my head spins and well I can’t seem to focus on the image and instead I focus on the technique, which normally does not create an interesting image. Also, I learned that editing has become a great skill. After creating 4 plates that worked together  I always wanted to print them all, so a forewarning to you, some of these prints are busy. However, after a while I learned that in many cases less is more and hopefully this is the biggest accomplishment of this project. please let me know any thoughts or critique you have, another set of eyes is always helpful.